Running riot in Blackheath: Jonathan Harvey, Scott Lygate, Augusta Read Thomas, Helga Arias Parra

Viola player Stephen Upshaw is the soloist in a rare performance of Jonathan Harvey's Jubilus with the Riot Ensemble at Blackheath Concert Halls on Wednesday 3 May 2017. Written in 2002 for viola and chamber ensemble, Jubilus was premiered in 2003, commissioned by Radio France to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ensemble L'Itinerare, which gave the premiere. The work expands Harvey's 1992 piece Chant for solo viola, which was in turn inspired by a monk chanting at Mount Athos in Greece. Harvey combines this image with that of a Buddhist monastery, the soloist gradually from the modes of the chant to a Tibetan ritual chant of the Drukpa Order called Flower Rain.

The Riot Ensemble combine Jubilus with the world premiere of composer/clarinettist Scott Lygate’s Chamber Symphony, the UK premiere of Augusta Read Thomas’ Capricious Angels, and their second performance of Helga Arias Parra’s Incipit (commissioned and premiered by the ensemble in 2015)

Tickets are FREE! Full details from the Riot Ensemble website.